What is Lifestyling?

Lifestyling aims to gradually reduce the risk of the funds you are invested in as you approach retirement.

Long-term pension planning often involves investing in high-risk funds to benefit from potential long-term growth. However, as you near retirement, the amount of risk you are comfortable accepting will probably reduce. Lifestyling is suitable if you want to invest in high-risk or medium-risk funds over the term of your pension plan but want to move gradually into a mix of medium-risk and low-risk funds as you get nearer retirement.

Lifestyling strategies are not suitable if you have chosen to invest in low risk

funds. This is because lifestyling will switch your chosen funds into higher-risk funds which you may not be comfortable with. Lifestyling will lead to a lower value pension fund if stock markets are rising in the years leading up to retirement. However, lifestyling works well if there is a large fall in markets in the years leading to your retirement. This is because your chosen funds are switched into low and medium-risk funds, depending on the strategy, and also partly into a Cash Fund which is a low-risk fund with a volatility rating of 1.

Please ask your financial advisor to discuss is if lifestyling is available on your pension plan.